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Saturday, June 8, 2013

I am blessed to have two neighbors with cherry trees who love to share. We went cherry picking with Paul's daughter Ciara and her two children Faith and Gabe. It was a first for all of us. To Read More, Click On The recipe Title. I've never baked with sour cherries before but with all those cherries ,I needed a good recipe quick. The first thing that came to mind was a crostata. I've made a crostata before and knew my husband would love it. He's a crust kinda guy.

This crust is absolutely amazing. Buttery, flaky, tender and melt in your mouth wonderful. The crust and sour cherry pie filling both came from Epicurious. You can use this crust to make a crostata or make two 9 inch pie crusts. It takes a little more time to make the crust, only because it's refrigerated twice, once for an hour and then again for half an hour. But it's totally worth your time to make! You can make this crust in a food processor or by hand, I've done both. This time I made it by hand and I did something a little different when I made the crust. I put the butter , flour and water in the freezer until they were very cold. I then grated the butter and put it back in the refrigerator till I was ready to use it. I made this crust when I made an Apple Calvados Tart a few years ago, if you want a visual on how to roll the crust click here to go to the recipe.

The cherry pie filing was so easy to make. After the cherries are pitted, the filling comes together in about 10 to 15 minutes, then you have a cool down time in the fridge. If you're pressed for time, you could make the filling one day and the crust the next. Sour Cherry Crostata, what a combination of flavors and textures. This crostata was gone an hour after it was cool enough to cut. You need this kids. Enjoy!!

Make filling:
Heat butter in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over moderate heat until foam subsides, then add fresh or frozen cherries with any juices and sugar and simmer, stirring, until sugar is dissolved. (Cherries will exude juices.) Continue to simmer until cherries are tender but not falling apart, about 8 minutes. Stir together water and cornstarch to form a thick paste, then stir into simmering filling and boil, stirring frequently, 2 minutes. Cool filling quickly by spreading it in a shallow baking pan and chilling until lukewarm, about 15 minutes.

Whisk together flour, sugar, and salt in a bowl, then blend in butter with your fingertips or a pastry blender (or pulse in a food processor) just until most of mixture resembles coarse meal with small (roughly pea-size) butter lumps. Drizzle evenly with 9 tablespoons ice water and gently stir with a fork (or pulse in food processor) until incorporated.

Squeeze a small handful: If it doesn't hold together, add more ice water 1 tablespoon at a time, stirring (or pulsing) until just incorporated, then test again. (Do not overwork mixture, or pastry will be tough.)

Turn out mixture onto a lightly floured surface and divide into 8 portions. With heel of your hand, smear each portion once or twice in a forward motion to help distribute fat. Gather dough together with scraper and press into a ball, then flatten into a 6-inch disk. Chill dough, wrapped in plastic wrap, until firm, at least 1 hour.

Using lightly floured parchment paper, roll the dough out to a 16 inch circle. Place rolled dough with parchment paper on a baking sheet and fold ends over to fit on sheet, refrigerate for 30 minutes After 30 minutes, take dough from refrigerator , unfold dough . Place cherry pie filling onto crust leaving a 2 inch border around crust. Fold crust over filling, pleating as necessary, leaving middle of pie open. Bake at 425 degrees for 40 to 45 minutes or until crust is golden.

I remember going to a cherry orchard where they had a pitting machine from the 1800's. I had 10lbs of cherries that were put into the machine that all came out pitted. Talk about something we need today. As for the crostata it sounds amazing.